Industrial

Europe’s manufacturing industries have been one of the main destinations for private equity investment. Western Europe’s industrial sector faces major challenges from low-cost competitors based in Asia and Central and Eastern Europe. In the continent’s traditional industrial regions – Germany, north-eastern France, northern Italy, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands – companies have responded by moving up the value-added chain, controlling costs and increasing efficiency. Private equity has backed many of them, and is increasingly active in the Central and Eastern European countries that benefit from a lower cost-base.